Ugandans lose hope in corruption fight – Twaweza report 

Three out of four Ugandans (74 per cent) say corruption is either very severe (22 per cent) or extremely severe (52 per cent) in Uganda, with just one out of ten (11 per cent) saying the problem is not severe.

This view is shared broadly across different demographic groups. Further, citizens rank corruption high on the list of problems facing Uganda. These findings were released Friday by Twaweza in a factsheet titled Corruption: Ugandan citizens’ experiences and opinions, based on data from Sauti za Wananchi, a nationally representative high-frequency mobile phone survey.

For this brief, data was collected from 2,745 respondents in the eighth round of calls to the second Sauti za Wananchi panel, conducted between June and July 2024, with some supplementary data from other rounds.

Despite the overwhelming majority of citizens who describe corruption as a major problem, citizens are split on whether the government is doing enough to fight corruption. Half (51 per cent) either agree or strongly agree with the view that the government is doing enough, though a substantial minority (36 per cent) either disagree or strongly disagree.

Wealthier citizens, better-educated citizens, and residents of urban areas are more likely to say the government is not doing enough. The citizens’ two main ideas for combating corruption in Uganda are that corrupt officials should be arrested and charged, cited by three out of ten, and introducing strict laws on corruption, mentioned by 29 per cent of the respondents.

These two ideas are well ahead of any other suggestions, such as better supervision of government (7 per cent) and audits (1 per cent), which were cited by relatively few. Speaking at the launch of these results, Marie Nanyanzi, a senior programmes officer at Twaweza, said this data shows that the system is flawed and that even the available laws would do nothing much to help.

She says citizens feel there is no way to hold the corrupt accountable. Further, the new report shows a significant minority of citizens (31 per cent) disagree with the statement that in Uganda everyone is equal before the law, and slightly more than this disagree with the views that the courts (40 per cent) and police (43 per cent) treat everyone the same regardless of tribe.

Residents of the Greater Kampala area are least likely to agree with the view that the courts and police treat everyone the same regardless of their tribe. Nanyanzi says the major deduction from the data is that corruption is not yet risky in Uganda.

Commenting on the findings, David Kizito, a programmes officer at Transparency International Uganda noted that it’s more concerning that while Uganda acknowledges that corruption is one of Uganda’s biggest problems, other reports such as the East Africa Bribery report have shown that Ugandans initiate bribery whereby they offer this money to officials such as the judges or police officers even when it’s not solicited.

For Kizito, for Uganda to beat corruption, the government needs to make it very risky for one to engage in corruption than the current glorification whereby when one is arrested, groups of people go out publicly pushing for their release.

He suggested that one of the ways of cutting the high levels of corruption is reducing as much as possible face-to-face interactions. Giving an example of the halted Express Penalty system (EPS), he says if such as reasonably done, they can go a long way to help.

Corruption in top offices

In the last 5 years, a number top Ugandan public officials  have been cited in corruption allegations or sanctioned. They include;

1. Anita Among, speaker of parliament

Targeted by the United Kingdom and the United States under their global anti-corruption regimes. Alleged involvement in the misappropriation of roofing iron sheets meant for Karamoja’s vulnerable communities, as well as receiving $894,500 in unexplained travel per diem and entertainment allowances between July 2023 and January 2024.

Anita, who critics say is often shielded from legal liability by President Yoweri Museveni is also accused of benefiting from procurement abuses and misusing substantial parliamentary resources.

2. Mary Goretti Kitutu & Agnes Nandutu, former Karamoja Affairs ministers

The duo is implicated and charged with corruption for stealing and redirecting thousands of iron sheets intended for impoverished communities.

3. Amos Lugoloobi, state minister of Finance & Planning

Charged in October 2023 with corruption-related offences connected to the diversion of iron sheets. He allegedly used them for private purposes (e.g. roofing shelters for his livestock).

4. Yusuf Mutembuli, Paul Akamba & Cissy Namujju Dionizia, NRM MPs

The MPs are accused of soliciting a 20 per cent budget cut from the Uganda Human Rights Commission budget for personal gain. They represent a rare case of ruling party legislators being prosecuted.

5. Lydia Mugambe Ssali, High court justice

She was Sentenced to 6 years and 4 months in the United Kingdom for modern slavery, immigration offences, and witness intimidation.

6. Salim Saleh, brother of President Museveni

Implicated in multiple major corruption cases, including illegal bank share acquisitions, procurement of defective military helicopters, and exploitation of natural resources in the DRC. While these are older allegations, they continue to influence perceptions of corruption at senior levels.

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